


Winter Where You Are

by st_aurafina



Category: Firefly, Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Challenge Response, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-09
Updated: 2009-12-09
Packaged: 2017-10-04 07:04:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_aurafina/pseuds/st_aurafina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clyde has helped Luke sort out some confusing issues, but even he can't explain why the universe is named River.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter Where You Are

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2009 round of [Multiverse 5000](http://community.livejournal.com/multiverse5000). Thank you to Lilacsigil for the beta.

When he first came to live with Sarah Jane, Luke thought that everyone spoke directly with the universe – it was one of the few things that made sense in a very confusing time. There were so many concepts to integrate that he never thought to question this particular phenomenon. He simply took it at face value: that everyone heard the quiet voice which only came at night, only when the skies were clear.

"Some voices are louder than others," it said once, from a winter sky swept clean by snowfall. "They carry further than they should."

Luke didn't always understand what the voice said. Then again, it was that way with most conversations in the early days. Context was hard work. ("You'll see the map eventually," said the voice. "It's just a question of finding the edges.") Early on, he had few tools to sort the remarkable from the mundane: waking up to an early frost was just as startling as teleporting onto an alien ship.

"Everything is a surprise," he said one night, watching his breath collide with the cold radiating from the glass. "Every minute, there's something new."

"Don't be afraid," the voice came from far away and bore with it a sense of sun and dust and music. "The ordinary has answers, too." She was right: he had so many questions about the everyday world that the voice of the universe was a quiet constant in comparison.

The Bane had gifted their Archetype with an oddly arbitrary database. By now, though, Luke had friends: Maria, Clyde and later, Rani to help him fill the gaps in his pre-programmed knowledge. But Luke always brought the awkward dilemmas to Clyde. Clyde was never too busy or impatient to sort through little scraps of confusion that slowly accumulated day to day, and he was happy to explain the most impenetrable things. It was their habit after school, to spend a little time at the playground on the corner for a quick debrief.

Today, Clyde had scrounged up enough change for chips, and the two boys sat on the roundabout , hands dipping into the paper parcel balanced on Luke's knee. Clyde idly spun the roundabout with one foot as he explained. "See, it's more of a convention with ships. Not a physical thing. You know, they don't have..." Clyde made some vague gestures towards his chest. Luke paused with a chip halfway to his mouth, raising his eyebrows in surprise. Clyde let his hands fall to his lap. "Well, anyway, it's not just ships that are female – cars too. And bikes.."

Luke nodded. "And the universe." He licked the salt from his fingertips.

Clyde nodded absently as he pulled the edge of the paper towards him, then stopped. "No, wait, what?"

"You know, the universe." Luke peered into the paper, and wondered whether it would be wrong to eat the last chip. "I don't think River is traditionally a girl's name, but I like it. It suits her voice." He broke the last chip in half and offered the larger piece to his friend, then realised Clyde's mouth wasn't hanging open in anticipation. He held the steaming chip gingerly between his fingers; it threatened to burn. "Oh, does she sound different to you, then?"

Clyde stuffed the chip in his mouth. "Mate, I think we need to talk about this."

They had one of their few arguments as they walked towards home. "Luke, people don't hear voices in the middle of the night, not unless they're bonkers." Clyde held up an appeasing hand. "I know you're not bonkers, but a voice? From the sky? And it's been talking to you since, well, you know. Since you were born? And you never mentioned it to anyone?"

"I thought everyone could hear it." Luke muttered. He spun his school bag until the twisted handles pinched his hand. "It still could be the universe. Just because you can't hear her." He felt knotted inside, a petty anger directed at his friend and at the universe, but it was hard to explain why. Why didn't she speak to Clyde? Was he really the only one who heard her?

Clyde shook his head. "Look, you need to tell Sarah Jane about this. It could be the Bane, or the Trickster. It could be some alien we've never heard of, trying to use you to take over the world. I don't want to make you paranoid or anything, Luke, but you're a megalomaniac magnet."

"It's not the Bane! You don't understand, it's not a big deal. We just talk. She's not asking me to do anything evil!" Luke realised he was shouting. "Never mind." He slung his bag over his shoulder and hunched into the weight of it as he stormed down Bannerman Street. He stopped just outside his house, angry that Clyde was still watching him from the corner. He shouted back at him. "Don't do anything. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Luke wasn't very good at arguments, but today he seethed with frustration.

Clyde shrugged, as if it didn't mean much to him anyway, but he stood fast at the top of the street watching. Luke ignored him and stomped into his driveway without looking over his shoulder.

Sarah Jane was on the phone in the hallway but she flung out an arm to catch him in a hug as he walked past. Luke let himself be briefly squeezed, then shrugged away. Sarah Jane smoothed his hair and returned to her interrogation, and Luke shouldered his bag again, heading for the stairs. He would talk to his Mum about this later, when he was sure of himself. Sarah Jane understood that sometimes you need to work things out on your own.

He threw his bag into the corner of his room and flopped onto his bed. If he tilted his head off the pillow, he could see a triangle of sky through his window. The light was fading, but he could see the clouds stretching thin across the sky, dragged along by the brisk winter wind. The sky was clearing as it darkened; River might talk to him soon. He clasped his hands behind his head and thought about this strange feeling of frustration. He was angry at Clyde, though he couldn't say why. And he felt stupid, too, for not realising that River was probably a person, not an abstract concept. He realised guiltily that he'd never asked River anything about herself. But he hadn't thought to question the universe: the universe was absolute. Luke kicked one trainer against the foot of the bed in agitation for a moment then checked the clock by his bed. It would be almost lunch time in Washington DC. He rolled off the bed, and flipped open his computer.

Every time Luke spoke with Maria he carefully examined her appearance, looking for the apparently inevitable signs of Americanisation that Clyde said would appear 'any day now'. He didn't really know what to look for, though, and Clyde was annoyingly vague about what this process entailed or what the signs might be. Maria seemed happy, as far as Luke could tell, and her smile was infectious. He sat cross-legged on the floor, and explained everything to her.

"I'm sorry, Luke. I've never heard a voice like that, either. " On the screen, Maria looked a little wistful at the idea. "It sounds nice, though. Someone who only talks to you."

"But that's just it – I thought she spoke to everyone." Luke hung his head. "I think I had a fight with Clyde about it. I don't know why."

Maria chewed her lip. "Maybe you're not mad at him, just at what he had to tell you? I mean, when I was six, a girl at school told me there was no Father Christmas, that it was just my Mum and Dad setting everything up for me. I was really angry at her – but really it was because my whole idea of Father Christmas had changed. It wasn't her fault that the world didn't fit my view of things."

"I suppose. " Luke turned the idea over in his mind, looking at himself the moment before and after Clyde had broken the news."I guess it hasn't changed anything about River, just the way that I see her."

An electronic bell sounded and Maria looked over her shoulder. "Well, whoever she is, she's got good tastes in friends, Luke. I have to go to class. I'll talk to you later – keep me up to date!" She signed off, and Luke closed the computer again.

"I was a ship, once. That's how you know I'm a girl." The wind had swept the sky clean, and River's voice reached out to him like starlight. "But Serenity is her own person now."

Luke stood up, and pressed his palms to the window, listening to her speak. For the first time, he pushed his awareness towards her, straining for a glimpse of her world. Their connection obviously didn't work like that – all Luke saw were stars in a dark sky.

River laughed. "Mirrors are cold - they don't always give back what you see."

"I thought you talked to everyone the way you talk to me. I'm pretty sure that only I can hear you."

"Puppets have a language of their own." There was an angry edge to River's voice. "We don't have to share it with anyone."

Luke gave a wry smile. "I'm not a puppet."

There was a sense of movement from River, a joyous feeling of freedom and flight. "I know. Not now. I'm not afraid to look back. You can learn from footsteps in the sand."

"Are you like me?" Luke suddenly sat up straight. He hadn't thought that what the Bane did here on Earth could be replicated. "Are you an Archetype, like I am?"

"They thought I was an ideal." Whatever River was doing, it gave her a sense of wicked glee that made Luke smile. "But I'm my own person now." Suddenly, and with great clarity, Luke heard a spectacular string of Mandarin cursing in a male voice.

"Sweet, sweet River, what the hell are you doing with my ship? I'm set to thinking you want to see young Kaylee cry." The man's voice was more distant than River's but, through the link, Luke felt a wave of affection.

"My family." For the first time, River seemed a little shy. There was a knock at Luke's door. "And yours, too, I hear."

"Luke," Sarah Jane stood just outside the door. "It's getting late. Do you want to come down for dinner? I'm sorry, I let time get away from me."

Luke pressed his hand against the window for a brief moment. "Talk to you later?"

River's voice was full of laughter. "Yes. There's only clear skies ahead."


End file.
